There are so many artificial sweeteners out there that it's hard to keep them straight. And with all the information swirling around about the safety of each one, it can be hard to know which to choose. Are you a fan of sugar substitutes? Here's a list of the artificial sweeteners and the big pros and cons of each.
| Type of Artificial Sweetener | General Info | Pros | Cons |
| Sucralose (Splenda) |
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Want to see the rest of the list? Read on after the break.
I am trying my darnedest to drink my tea without any sugar or sugar substitutes, but I can't lie — it ain't easy. I've always been a big fan of raw sugar, while others soak up the artificial sweeteners. While they all seem fairly equal (har, har), I do wonder if people know the differences between the vast selection. Come take my quiz and see how well you know your sweeteners!
If you're a fan of sprinkling a packet of artificial sweetener in your coffee instead of sugar, you may be excited to hear that Splenda has a new product out that contains fiber. Each packet of Splenda (which has the sweetening power of two packets of sugar) offers one gram of fiber. Now I'm all for getting extra fiber whenever I can, since the recommended amount is between 25 and 30 grams a day, but I just don't feel right about this. That's because for one, I am no fan of artificial sweeteners, and two, I'd rather get my daily fiber by eating fiber-rich foods such as fruits, veggies, nuts, and whole grains, since these also contain valuable vitamins and nutrients.
I do applaud Splenda for trying to make a healthier version of their sweetener, because the packets with fiber are definitely a better option than plain old Splenda. So if artificial sweeteners are your thing, you might as well have your coffee and your fiber too.
I went out for breakfast the other day and on the table sat the cute little container of sugar packets. I'm into the real stuff, so I always choose Sugar in the Raw (it has more nutrients than white sugar), but when I took a closer look, I saw at least 4 other colored packets in there.
Are these sugar substitutes really better for you? Is there some benefit to stirring them into your coffee instead of real sugar?
Basically, Equal, Splenda, and Sweet 'n Low all contain zero calories, fat, sodium, cholesterol, and protein. They contain less than 1g of carbs, so people trying to omit calories and carbs from their diet love these little packets.
OK, sounds like it's too good to be true, so here comes the million dollar question: Are these sugar substitutes safe? The truth is, we just don't know yet. There are no long-term studies of the side effects of artificial sweeteners in humans. The makers of these products did their own short-term studies on rodents and the results showed shrunken thymus glands as well as enlarged livers and kidneys. Since these tests weren't conducted on humans, the FDA decided that the results they were not conclusive. Hmmm.
Want to know about the side effects in humans? Then read more
